Discovery & Inquiry
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At St Dominic's, students learn through a discovery (Prep - 2) or inquiry (Years 3 - 6) process.
Discovery Learning (Prep-2)
What is Discovery?
Discovery is purposeful play that is strategically shaped by teachers to enable students to learn more about themselves, the world they live in and how to live and work with others. Discovery also encourages the development of oral language, social and personal management skills, a variety of subject specific skill sets (Science, Maths, etc.) and learning dispositions.
Play supports the development of higher order thinking and 21st century skills. The ability to collaborate, cooperate, problem solve, act responsibly, use critical and creative thinking skills are the keys to successful learning. Through Discovery teachers strategically plan and interact with children to develop these skills. Children engage with this learning whilst exploring and developing their ideas about the world around them. By allowing children choices they build their understandings about their world through activities and contexts that are meaningful to them.
Discovery is a time when students make choices about what learning opportunities they want to engage in, who they do this with, and where they do it. Teachers provide a learning environment, materials and questions that support students to create, discover and explore in different ways.
We believe an effective Discovery program:
is developmentally appropriate learning
enables students to explore different concepts
provides students with opportunities to be involved in the direction of their own learning
fosters our learning dispositions of being; self motivated, resilient, creative, reflective, persistent and collaborative
provides meaningful contexts for children to practise literacy and numeracy skills
supports the development of social skills.
Inquiry Learning (Years 3-6)
What is Inquiry?
At St Dominic’s our approach to developing and implementing rich Integrated Inquiry units of study, focus on the alignment of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. We strive to develop in our students, deep understandings about the world and how it works. We use our curriculum guidelines along with student wonderings to plan rich units that promote conceptual understanding. Technology is used by students to research, record and share their findings.
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